Combat Simulator meta

by Foggy Brume and Meta Group B, with thanks to James ErnestAnswer: KAPPA CRUCIS

When teams reach this round, they are given 12 inactive puzzle links, and a link to "Play Dice with the Universe." This accesses an electronic game of James Ernest's dice game Button Men.

You can play against Albert Einstein or Another Team.

If you play Albert Einstein, you'll play against an AI. Beat Albert Einstein, and you'll unlock a puzzle. Beat Albert three times and he refuses to play any more.

If you play Another Team, you'll play against another team anonymously. (Either you'll wait for a team to play, or you'll be paired up immediately with the team waiting to play. At 10 minutes, a waiting team will be pitted against the Albert Einstein AI.) Beating a team unlocks one puzzle.

Solving a puzzle gives solvers a pop-up for matching that answer to a deity. Solvers must then correctly match the answer to a deity, which unlocks that deity in Button Men.

Despite what Albert says, the gods will play dice with the universe. Each is unlocked by an answers appropriate to his or her name, like FATU HIVA for THOR (referencing Thor Heyerdahl). When each is defeated, the deity provides a jigsaw piece.

Defeat...

...and receive

Defeat...

...and receive

Defeat...

...and receive

Defeat...

...and receive

Apollo (unlocked by HARLEM NIGHTS)

Nike (unlocked by JUST DO IT)

Raven (unlocked by HEMPEL)

Mars (unlocked by WRECKS)

Athena (unlocked by NETWORKING)

Quetzalcoatl (unlocked by FEATHER BOA)

Aten (unlocked by PERFECT SCORE)

Ishtar (unlocked by WARREN BEATTY)

Balder (unlocked by CHROME DOME)

Nut (unlocked by TRAIL MIX)

Trivia (unlocked by TREBEK)

Thor (unlocked by FATU HIVA)

The answers to the puzzles consist of three 6-letter answers, three 8-letter answers, three 10-letter answers, and three 12-letter answers. A d6 has a square face, a d8 has a triangle face, a d10 has a kite face, and a d12 has a pentagon face. Each die is numbered thusly:

d6: 1-6, 2-5, 3-4

d8:1-8, 2-7, 3-6, 4-5

d10: 1-8, 2-7, 3-6, 4-5, 9-0

d12: 1-12, 2-11, 3-10, 4-9, 5-8, 6-7

The letters in each answer can be applied to the faces of the dice (e.g., for TREBEK, T=1, R=2, E=3, B=4, E=6, K=6). Some simple logic can match up the colors and words.

red = TREBEK, TRAIL MIX, FEATHER BOA, HARLEM NIGHTS

white = WRECKS, FATUHIVA, NETWORKING, PERFECT SCORE

black = HEMPEL, JUST DO IT, CHROME DOME, WARREN BEATTY

Each symbol in the message is the bottom of the die, which is why the letters are reversed. Logic is used to figure out which die face is on top (e.g., a red backwards B square would put 4 on the bottom, and 3 on the top, which is E). This spells the message HELP ME I HAVE BEEN TRAPPED IN THE CLUSTER KNOWN AS THE JEWEL BOX.

This indicates the star cluster known as the Jewel Box, which is Scotchy's location, KAPPA CRUCIS.